The het lit fandom hits are real! I haven't got any Austen ones, but it definitely shows, and a lot of hits/guest kudos and comments rather than members. They visit AO3 like ghosts, looking for lit het to devour but they don't own up to it.

Seems ridiculous to me that a hastily tossed-out ficlet gets so much kudos,

This is, according to pretty much everyone doing this meme, the Law.